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Wings and Prayers
— The story of a hospital fund-raiser that really took off.
 PROFILE
Name: Shelley Mielke
Event: Indianapolis Air Show
Cause: Riley Hospital for Children
Sponsor: Indiana Regional Financial Office of Thrivent Financial
Indiana RFO contribution: $100,000
Total funds raised: More than $350,000
Riley Hospital for Children saved her son's life. It was only natural for Shelley
Mielke to give back a weekend of her own.
Shelley was one of more than 900 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans volunteers
who contributed more than 6,700 hours working at The Indianapolis Air Show.
Mielke and her fellow volunteers, who traveled from throughout the region to
participate, manned the admission gates, parking lots and more, allowing proceeds
from the event to go to the children's hospital. The volunteer legion included
Greg Emmack, the Mielke's Thrivent Financial associate and godfather to Shelley's
son, Isaac.
The result: More than $350,000 was raised—including a $100,000 contribution
from the Indiana Regional Financial Office of Thrivent Financial. This is a
50 percent increase over 2004's total donation, making the air show the largest
fund-raising event in 2005 for Riley Hospital. The funds will be available to
treat patients like Isaac, who was born premature with a rare growth-related
disease. Riley Hospital stabilized young Isaac's condition, and with proper
follow-up care, he now can look forward to watching many air shows with his
grateful mom and dad.
"The staff at Riley has done so much for us," Shelley says. "I
wanted to help them continue to do great things."
—Lisa Harden
To learn how to contribute to Riley Hospital, visit the Riley Children's
Foundation at www.rileykids.org/giving/giving.asp.
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